The Light & Dark of the British Cityscape

An explosion of light fragments the darkness
obliterating the stars.
Streets, overrun by cars all day,
slow down at night demonstrating
an aptitude for change and the chance of respite.

Theatres, casinos and restaurants abound with lights,
street neons beam down on citizens -
browns, yellows, blacks and whites;
surly youths get into bloody fights,
rearranging the pecking order
of gangs seeking supremacy.
They roar onto the scene in fancy motors,
tyres screeching, head lamps blazing,
spurred on by the addictive cost of their life style.
It’s more than anyone can handle
and the web is wide.

A life is lost and the kid who died
is always the one who never lied,
was good at school and loved his Mum.
‘He never caused no trouble,’
yet his bubble burst,
when a shot from a gun sought him out in the city.

The sound of feet can still be heard,
running away; retreating into the distance,
in the early hours of the next new day.